This Week in Favs…..

10) “The Power of the Past” by Becca Puglisi on Sherry Soule’s Fiction Writing Tools blog. Ah, backstory! It can be incredibly hard to decide on which scenes/information you should divulge/detail and which ones you shouldn’t. Becca gives some really great advice here to assist you with those sometimes-difficult decisions, which I’m sure that we can all say we will be forever grateful for. :0)

9) “What Rejection Can Teach You” by Shelli Johnson. This particular post is actually from 2 weeks ago – and somehow I missed it! But now that I have found it and feel a little better about rejection and how it should be looked at, I just have to share it to ensure that we each look at rejection as a lesson instead of failure.

8) “Imitation as Inspiration: An Exercise for Writers” by Sarah Baughman on Write It Sideways. What a great and interesting exercise Sarah has put forth here: writing in the style of another author as a way to either break through writer’s block and/or build on your own personal style and/or voice. Check this out then put this exercise on your to-do list – or save it for when you have a bout with the ‘block’-that-shall-not-be-named!

7) “The Five Levels of Procrastination” by Alivia Anders. *snicker* All of these levels sound pretty familiar, don’t they? I enjoyed Alivia’s take on this – it felt fresh and different from other articles/posts I’ve read in the past….and the Harry Potter fan video she’s shared truly amazing!

6) “Stop That Fighting! Conflicts Aren’t All About the Punches” by Janice Hardy. Who doesn’t love conflict? Well, if you’re a writer and we’re talking about your story, then yes (otherwise I’m sure that all of us could do without some conflict in our personal lives, right?). I enjoyed Janice’s breakdown of the different types of conflicts that force our characters to act. I also especially enjoyed the questions she’s given in regards to looking at your scenes to find where you might be able to add some conflict to improve them.

5) “A Checklist for Deep POV (in 1st or 3rd person!)” by Julie Wade on TalkToYoUniverse. Now I don’t know about you, but I do enjoy a good checklist every now and then, and this one is no exception. Sometimes when you’re writing, you’re already inside the character’s head, knowing what they’re thinking, feeling, etc., so having a Deep POV checklist is very handy to help ensure that you’re conveying that onto the page for the reader. Julie even gives examples of each tip in case, which is always helpful when/if your brain feels like mush. ;0)

4) “What You Have to (Un)Learn to be a Writer” by James Killick. I’ve never thought of this before, but James really has some great points here. And some of them are things in which I have finally started to unlearn a *little*. James shares with us the advice that he would’ve told his younger self – beginning first with the items he should’ve unlearned and the ones he should’ve learned from the get-go. Go check this one out and see if you agree with these then share if you have a bit more advice that you would’ve told yourself way back when.

3) “Character Beauty in Imperfection” by Ava Jae on Writability. Imperfections: we all have them, and they’re beautiful. They’re what makes us different, unique. So why should our characters be any different? Ava makes a wonderful point here by stating that: “The most memorable characters to me…by and large are the ones with imperfections.” 2) “Writing Out of Order” by Veronica Roth. Now, I’m one of those OCD writers that *used* to believe that I should be writing my story in order. However I have learned, fairly recently, that this is a habit worth breaking, and Veronica illustrates exactly why it’s OK to write scenes out of order. This is great advice for all writers and I highly suggest checking her post out then giving it a try for yourself. ;0)

1) “Story Climax: The Whole Point” by Victoria Mixon on Jami Gold’s blog. I do believe I scared my cat when I read this post – cause I jumped a little and said ‘Oh. My. God.’ before slamming my head against the desk. Needless to say he jetted out of the room, but he did come back…eventually. Now back to this post in which I have to say that this is a must read for every writer! Then, after you read this post, be sure to not only follow Victoria’s blog, but also check out her new book – which I have just purchased and cannot wait to devour!!

In case you’ve missed it (and if not, I’m sure you’ll want to see it again, and again, and again):

An ‘Official’ Hunger Games Trailer (not another teaser, thank goodness) was released earlier this week! Squee!!! Now we just have to wait another 3.5 months for the movie to be released! *tries to smile*